Lawsuit Buttermilk Muffins (and Variations)
Submitted by Gnancy on February 24, 2011 at 1:21 am

DESCRIPTION
Marcy Goldman's famous recipe. There is a newer version; I haven't seen it, but I believe it's in A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman.

SUMMARY
Yield 12 muffins Source The Best of Better Baking.com (cookbook title) File under muffins

INGREDIENTS
STREUSEL TOPPING
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
(For allergy kids, use crushed graham crackers to replace the walnuts in the streusel. )
BATTER
1 1/3 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons orange zest, optional
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (see recipe)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped fruit
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NOTE: Almost any fruit works well in this recipe. Good choices include: diced rhubarb, coarsely chopped fresh or dried cranberries, blueberries, diced apples, firm, small chunks of banana (may wish to add a pinch of nutmeg), frozen raspberries or strawberries, dried sour cherries, or a combo of strawberries and rhubarb.
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For delicate, highly colored fruits such as raspberries, cranberries or blueberries, using semi-frozen fruit helps prevent batter discoloration and protects the fruit from becoming mashed in the batter. If using frozen rhubarb, semi-frozen is preferred, too.

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray and line with muffin liners. Place the muffin tin on the baking sheet. Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

For the streusel, in a separate bowl, using your fingers or a fork, combine the sugar, flour, cinamon, butter and nuts in small bow to make a crumbly streusel. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, citrus zest and egg. The mixture should be pasty and oil looking -that is ok. Stir in the vanilla and buttermilk, then the dry ingredients. When almost combined, fold in the fruit. If the batter seems too loose, add a few more tablespoons of flour to make batter a bit stiffer. Let batter stand 10 minutes.

Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop batter into muffin tins. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over each muffin. Place muffin tin on the prepared baking sheet.

Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake until done about 25-30 minutes. Muffins should spring back when pressed lightly although being so streusel covered, it is hard to test quite that way. Just have faith. Leave muffins in pan for 5 minutes before removing.

comments
Submitted by MarcyGoldman on Wed, 2014-05-28 12:00.
Actually, my recipe, Lawsuit Muffins (and the story that goes with it) are on my website, http://www.betterbaking.com and in my cookbook, The Best of BetterBaking.com, Whitecap Books 2009